Traveling Tango

The long road back to the USA

With Porto Tango Marathon finished, we packed our bags for the return to Lisboa by train.

Getting up early and indulging in a coffee and a nata, a Portugués pastry that tastes like a creme brule but with a flaky crust that is delicious but not sweet.

The ordered Bolt showed up and took us the 10-minute ride over the hill. Yes, Porto is very hilly to the main train station. This old train station is very close to the Atlantic Ocean and the main docking area of the big cruise boats. That location leads to a packed station with many people who are also waiting for the scheduled fast train to Lisboa. There are two types of train services: the local and the fast express.

The train arrives, and we find our seats. But when you travel with 4 bags, finding space for the bags can be a challenge, but we find space and sit down. For the next 90 minutes, the train goes approx 80 kpm, not as fast as the train to Porto went for some reason.

We are stopping for the night in Coimbra to the town that was once the capital of Portugal and is home to a very well-preserved medieval city along the Mondego River.

We are only staying here for the night as the next morning we’ll reboard the fast train and return to Lisboa.

After finding our hotel via Bolt and stashing our bags, we started walking a bit into the old city. It’s another small, beautiful old medieval city that has had the newer sections built around the older city. Many of these medieval towns are very similar in their construction as they were built at approximately the same time. This one was started in the 12th century, so it was a little different, and the streets are denser, and there are 7 churches and various monasterys and government buildings.

We walk and find a place for a coffee at the Cafe Santa Cruz next to church of the same name in the heart of the city. This cafe is one of the most beautiful that we have visited, but the space still feels like a chapel. Later that evening, we returned to listen to the featured Fado music.

Walking further, this medieval town is from the 12th century. The streets are very narrow, normal sized street cars, and busses are not allowed into the city. But we do manage to find our preferred method of exploring a city – an electric tuk tuk. This is a great way to explore a city with a small footprint, especially if your guide is versed in history.

With our driver Wesley, he takes us on an exploration of Coimbra. The main old churches, the old university, and to a spectacular vista overlooking the city where a rope swing was installed where we take a photo. The tour was only 90 minutes long as the city itself was not very large. It’s a bit overcast and gray, but the viewpoint is marvelous.

As now we are hungry, we find a place for soup as while the weather is warm, the wind has the chill of autumn in it. The soup is another version of vegetable and potatoe soup that’s delicious with a glass of tawny port.

We realized we need to get to bed early that night as we are finishing our train journey tomorrow, but it is still early in the evening.

We returned to the church cafe to listen to the Fado music. The cafe has fantastic acoustics, and the music is very haunting. There was a guitarist and another instrument shaped like a guitar but with a round body and double steel strings called a Portuguesa guitarra. And the singer, this time a man. The music is very melodic, and it could be considered sad or very stirring with stories of love and loss and sea adventures in Portuguese.

Fado means literally “destiny” or “fate”, and therein lays its sad beauty. We must accept our fate, even if it’s cruel, especially if it’s cruel. Quoted from a story posted on the internet at liveluso.com

With the drama of the performance finished, we got another Bolt and arrived at our hotel in 5 minutes.

After a hotel breakfast, it’s time for the return trek to the train station. We again boarded the train, made our luggage fit unto the overcrowded rack space, and proceeded to our seats.

The journey was about 3 hours, but this train was not as comfortable as the first train as the seats didn’t recline and didn’t seem to have any cushioning either.

Our experience in Portugal and Spain trains have decent wifi, which is great as somehow I managed to pack my book in my big bag. There’s even a quiet car available on some trains if you are willing to pay for silence!

We arrived in Lisboa and took a street taxi to our airport hotel. Lisboa is a small city and the airport is almost in the city.

We have learned over the years that the way to travel for us that is kinder to our bodies is a train and an overnight hotel. A plane and an overnight hotel. This process allows us to recoup our energy.

And then we are back in Barcelona for the evening as we fly back to Miami the next day.

Our adventures will continue, but we will be based in Delray Beach until we leave for Venice Tango Encuentro in early December.

We will dance in our Florida community and renew friendships with the tangeros that we have met over the years.

The adventures continue!

!La vida es tango¡
!Tango es la vida¡

Abrazo y Besos

WISSANT, FRANCE Tango Camp Notes

We arrived in Zaventem, Brussels Airpoqrt after the flight from Helsinki. With a rental car, we were able to navigate our way out of the airport and onto the highway.
The town of Wissant, France is about 3 hour drive from the airport.
The road we drove to Wissant was the Flemish French version of the superhighway. We only stopped once for coffee. That road stop was similar to any road stop on a US highway complete with Macdonalds and Starbucks. The only difference was paying in Euros and not dollars.

As we got closer to Wissant, the scenery changed to gently rolling hills with an occasional farm, fields, olive trees, or a diary farm with cows grazing on the hillside. We arrived at our Hotel de La Plague, Wissant, just as the sky was starting to darken.

We walked into the small office area, and we’re greeted by the front desk woman. Who, of course, proceeded to tell is in every way possible that she only spoke French. We were trying to communicate in Spanish first, then English.
Fortunately for us, there was another person there and he helped us. She gave us the key to a room on the third floor walk up, and we returned and said that it was not possible because of all the luggage!!!

So she gave us the key to a different room. This room proved to be exactly like a French attic studio except with less space. In the room was a very small desk, a double bed tucked between two walls and the small seperate bathroom. The bathroom had a sink and an upstanding bathtub with a shower attachment. And the boiler had not been turned on for the season, it was so cold.

After getting ourselves settled, it was time to meet the group. This year’s crop of workshop dancers were mostly from Belgium and France. Mostly middle-aged couples speaking Flemish, French, a bit of English and an occasional word of Spanish.

There were a few couples that we met at last years camp, but most of the couples were new to us.

After a little meet and greet, we adjourned to dinner. It was a typical french country dinner, an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. As we are at the sea, most of the weeks, dinners are fresh fish of some sort, even serving escargot and oysters one night!

The dinning room was set up with one long community table, 5 tables for 4 and a rectangular table to 6.

In the next six days, we would have breakfast and dinner together, but we were separated into groups for classes.

In the first couple of days, the weather was wet and cold, raining buckets. I did not want to leave the hotel, as was gray and wet out. We were so happy we had asked and received a small portable heater that allowed us to keep our room at a comfortable 26 C.

There were two morning techniques classes in which were separated by sex and taught separately. Both Liz and Yannick are very talented not only as dancers but also as instructors. They can break down any step into its elements… The basic steps formated and broken down into the simplest process that will achieve the results.
I attended each of the techniques classes to continue my learning process with my body.

In this class, woman technique class our bodies were as varied as the women themselves. Some can do disassociation, and some can not. Some can balance, and some can not. As this was a woman’s technique class, Liz helped each person to achieve what is the best possible outcome for their body.

Then there was a couple of practice classes daily. The couples was divided into two groups. Daily classes fluctuated between early one day and later the next.

Then everyday there was a practica, some days guided by Liz & and Yannick, other days without guidance but music was provided.

Then, daily before dinner there were a different group classe ranging from musicality with one class on D’Arienzo and one on Canaro. And a different group class on how to dance in a small space.

Every night after dinner there was a milonga to attend if you wished. Most of us did as was a great place to practice the new sequences we learned.

That’s what I love about this workshop. Learning and correcting habits in a safe space.

Maximo and I are the only Spanish speaking foreigners to the group. For us, taking this workshop is all about returning to the basics, yet again. To practice new and old steps, concentrate on our connection and our balance and how we embrace each other. We do this to refresh ourselves and our dance; it’s our week to just practice tango!

We find out that we are by far the most traveled tango dancers as we have danced tango in many countries. There is a middle-aged couple that competes in both ballroom and tango. They are both wonderful people as they were one of the few peeps we shared conversations with as they both spoke English.

We felt a deficit of conversation because we don’t speak Flemish or French.
The people here all know each other pretty well and again we are the newcomers.

It can be isolating to not speak a language, but we are outgoing and always curious about meeting other tangeros. This is true here. We attempted to have conversations with a few other people in the workshop.

This is strictly a couples only event as most couples don’t rotate partners in class. At a milonga, these folks like dancing mostly with the folks they know. On the final night, our grand Milonga, we were treated to a performance by Luz and Yannick. Was very beautiful and pretty impromptu as most of the week Liz been dealing with injury.

At this gala milonga, there seemed to be a greater ease amongst the dancer, a willingness to open up, as a couple of women asked Maximo for a dance. The same was true for me. It was the last night of the workshop as we were all departing in the morning.

And of course, Nova was always appreciative of all

During the week of the workshop, the act of eating with a stranger is a way of learning about someone with food and conversation if both parties agree to sit with each other.

Unfortunately, the group of dancers that we were at this camp seemed to believe in staying safe and sitting with people they knew. A few wondered over to our table, while most preferred the known versus the unknown.

Yes, this is a reminder that not all people are curious or willing to try a new experience.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Wissant as not only the classes, but the location allowed us to explore the area. We visited Calais and Boulogne sur Mer.
This area was the location of heavy fighting in WWII. Many monuments to the dead and museums, too.

We drove the small coastal roads and walked along the seas. We looked directly at the cliffs of Dover. Many ferries, barges and freighter ply these seas, and an occasional fishing boat.

We continue our travels and always stay curious and take on new experiences meeting new folks and trying out new food and cities. After all, we are adventurers in our own fashion.

Now on to Portugal!!!
Lisboa for a few days and Porto Tango Marathon.

Abrazo

Land of the North.

After our time in Kraków, we headed north to Helsinki. We were going this far north now as at the end of September the weather starts to get colder. This year, all the world experienced a very warm summer season.
Upon arriving here, we noticed that the city was so quiet. It seems like you never hear an ambulance or a police siren. It’s a bit unnerving as these are the sounds of the city. The second thing we noticed was how clean the city was.
Helsinki is home to approx 400,000 people.

In the city, there is excellent public transportation provided by buses and trams, and on the water, there is a large network of ferries. You can go from Helsinki to Norway, Sweden, Denmark or Estonia, and many other destinations.
These waters have been used extensively for the transportation of people, goods, and services for hundreds of years. This tradition continues today.

Cafe life is alive as is a great food culture.
We found an old glass house cafe called Kappeli that was built in 1867. Lots of local history besides great coffee and cakes. A lot of restaurants in Helsinki are more like cafererias. Order at the counter, and food is delivered to your table.

We tried the local specialties of reindeer meat with liganberry jam on a baked potato twice. First at our friend Emilia’ home as she prepared it for us with reindeer meat that was from her mother’s herd in northern Lapland.

The second time was at the Old Market Hall in Helsinki. This is an old hall where you can try many local delicacies ranging from coffee to fresh soups to various types of local meats.

The difference between⁰ the two preparations was that there was a bit of difference in the flavor of the meat.
Reindeer is a bit gamey but sweeter than elk.
The other specialty we tried a few times was salmon chowder. Sometimes, the broth was creamer than others. Helisinki offers many food experiences.

One night, we ate a new French restaurant that had been open only for two weeks. It’s on the second floor called Bouchon Carema. Very lively with some of your food prepared and cooked tableside.

We also tried out a few sauna experiences. In Finland, a sauna is almost daily, if not weekly, activity. It’s a social, it’s for business it’s for meeting new people. It’s in some respects the Finnish equivalent of meeting for a coffee.

We went to Loyly, which is a very modern seaside sauna with a stylish, glass-walled restaurant & large deck for sweeping views of the ocean. There are 2 saunas, each with a different type of heat. Wet and traditional smoke sauna.

There is an area to go outside after the sauna for cool down, and you can even swim in the Baltic Sea, or as I did, take a cold shower to cool down.
Sitting in the wet sauna, your vista thru a huge glass window was the bleak waters of the Baltic on a gray day.

After 2 hours of this, your body is refreshed, your skin has a healthy glow, and you are starving.

The other place we tried was close by our apartment and called Allas Spas. If you are a pool swimmer, this is your place. Our pool is natural salt water, and the other is heated water. Here, the saunas are much smaller and more of an emphasis on the swimming part of the experience.
I think either one is definitely worth a visit as they are such a part of Finnish culture.

We spent a week getting to know the city, which is rather small.
We visited cafes, went to the contemporary art museum and even went to a classical music concert at the concert hall.

The city is quiet and somber as are the people, and they are not as outgoing as up north in Lapland, which we were able to visit on this trip.

Going up north to the Arctic Circle was amazing. We took the overnight train from the Helsinki train station. We booked a sleeper car and ordered our breakfast in advance. It’s a bit different sleeping on a train, but the best news is when you wake up, you are at your destination.
Rovaniemi. This small city is also known as Santa Claus village.

We never went to the village. Instead, our two days were filled with different experiences. We booked our stay at the first guesthouse built in the city. This place is close to the train station and offers a hearty breakfast buffet every morning. The place is run by two sisters.
The weather here was substantially colder than Helsinki even with my borrowed sweater, I felt the chill, but we were now equipped with wool socks and fingerless wool gloves

We walked and found a great cafe for a coffee and a bit of food. Cafe 21. Unfortunately it started to rain so we decided to go to the market to buy some soups for dinner. As later that night, our first tour to see the Aurora Borealis would start at 10 pm. We shopped and scheduled a Bolt back to our guesthouse as it was now raining heavily. Hope was fading to see the lights as the sky was very cloudy.

Later that evening, we were at the offices of Lapland Safaris, getting fitted out in additional warm clothes and boots with our veteran guide named Paivi. She was wonderful, informative, and funny. As she too felt hopeful, we would see the lights. Our group size was a total of 4 people. She drove us to a restaurant farm area that was about 45 minutes outside of town to get into total darkness. We were at this farmers’ restaurant by a lake that had a hut that was partially enclosed, allowing us a bit of protection from the winds and torrential rains. The farmer was there too, offering us warm beverages and delicious homemade cookies against a background of a giant roaring fire.

We waited while there was a downpour. We told Ghost stories. We heard tales of Finnish folklore. We drank hot mulled wine and ate homemade cookies.
The time passed.
The cloudy sky opened up for the stars. The light show began. We stared, we fotoed the sky. All told we saw the Aurora for 10 minutes. But we were lucky and saw the lights.

A planet shined brightly. I think it was Venus, and then the sliver of the moon burst thru the clouds.
Then, just as quickly as the skies opened, the stars disappeared, and the clouds returned.
All the lights were gone.
We got dropped off at 1am and promptly fell asleep.

That next day, we took a taxi out to a sauna called Arcos Lapland. It’s about a 20-minute ride outside the city. I had booked this private experience for us to enjoy.

Imagine an outdoor woodfire hot tub on the edge of a lake with a small building that contains a woodfired sauna. It was all ours for 2.5 hours.
They provided coffee, cookies, a sausage to roast over the fire complete with buns and all the extras, and of course, the campfire necessities; the marshmallow.

We stayed in the tub while it rained, then quickly went ran inside to the sauna to get heated up. This was a simple life for two and a half hours. We played music, we chatted, we ate a bit and relaxed, and got cozy.
It’s remarkable how slowly time does move when you are still in the countryside.

Then our time was done, and our taxi arrived. We returned to guesthouse to nap a bit as our next safari was on a small boat on the cities main river again to see the lights.

It continued to rain all day, sometimes in buckets and other times in a mist. We were hopeful for another sighting, but as the clouds and rain persisted, I was doubtful.

After a tasteful and impressive dinner at the Arctic Board Restaurant, we were picked up by our next guide, Mieke.
We returned to the Lapland Safaris office yo get fitted out for more warm clothing as the temperature was dropping. Again, it was just us and another woman from Japan. We walked out the back door of the Lapland Safaris offices to a small covered boat.

For two hours, we sat on this boat and looked for any sign of an auroras. the river at night is very calm. It was lightly raining. Our guide gave us some hot juice to drink that did its job warming us up.

But this was only a temporary warmth because the temperatures were plummeting down to the low 30s.
Wet and cold after two hours we returned to the office.

Once inside, returning our clothes again, the heated room was the perfect place to get warm. Our guide and driver dropped us off at the guesthouse.
We fell asleep only to wake up at 7.30 in the morning as we were ticketed on the day train back to Helsinki.

Once back in Helsinki, clothes were washed, and luggage got repacked.
We slept in on Saturday as we were exhausted from our quick back to back adventures.

Rising early on Sunday, our bolt driver showed up on time at 6 am and off to the airport we went.
Continuing our adventures, but now on to Brussells and a week at Tango camp in Wissant, France with Liz and Yannick Van Hove.

More to follow!!! Abrazo

Traveling Tango

The long road back to the USA

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WISSANT, FRANCE Tango Camp Notes

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Land of the North.

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Traveling Tango